Laws are to be introduced in Wales to make supermarkets, shops and workplaces more Covid secure amid concerns that standards are slipping.
All retailers will be required by law to put in place measures such as limiting the number of customers, while workplaces are to be obliged to carry out Covid assessments taking into account the new more easily transmissible variant.
But the Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, said on Friday there were signs that Covid rates were stabilising across most of the country and suggested it was possible some lockdown measures could begin to be eased at the end of January.
Drakeford said the all-Wales coronavirus infection rate had fallen to below 400 per 100,000 people for the first time in many weeks.
“We are seeing some encouraging signs that cases are stabilising and reducing,” he said. “These signs of improvements show all the hard work and sacrifice is really paying off. We have to continue making this effort.”
He said the NHS in Wales remained under “immense and sustained pressure” but “marginal easements” of the current lockdown restrictions could be on the horizon.
“If things over the next two weeks continue to head in the right direction the cabinet will decide if there is any headroom for us to begin the process of lessening the levels of restrictions we face,” he said.
“We would have to be certain that improvement is reliable, sustainable in order for us to begin the journey of lifting restrictions.”
He added that the government was keen to get children returning to face-to-face learning as quickly as possible as long as it could be done safely.
“We all want children to be back in the classroom, we all want that to be done in a way that is safe for them and staff.”
On shops and supermarkets, Drakeford said: “We will put into the law those measures that are currently set out in guidance. For example, all retailers will need to have signs visible to help people keep their distance and make their way around the store. They must have sanitiser for hands and trolleys and systems in place to limit the number of people who can be in-store at any one time.”
He said there was “significant evidence” of coronavirus transmission in supermarkets and while the majority of supermarkets had worked hard to make their shops as safe as possible, the “visible signs of protection” had been reduced compared with last spring.
“I think it is very important in giving confidence to staff and to people who go shopping that a more visible sense that everything is being done to protect them is put back in its place,” Drakeford said.
The first minister said it would become a legal requirement for a businesses with five or more employees to carry out a Covid risk assessment. All businesses that had such an assessment would have to re-run it to take into account the new strain of the virus.
He said issues such as ventilation, social distancing, PPE, face coverings and making sure the maximum number of people possible worked from home were among the issues businesses would have to consider.
Drakeford said it would be up to owners and managers to enforce the rules.
He raised concern about coronavirus rates in Wrexham and Flintshire in north Wales. He said the new variant was dominant in the north and suggested the proximity of areas badly affected to north-west England could be a factor.
